Three years ago, Hollywood started buzzing about an untitled movie project getting shopped around town, written and directed by Jon Watts and set to star George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Every studio in town was reportedly bidding on the film, and eventually, when Apple secured the distribution rights, a priority in the plan was made clear: a “robust theatrical release,” as Deadline put it. That was woven into the deal between the filmmakers and the studio, with Sony Pictures later attached to handle theatrical distribution. Just last year, Clooney said, “Brad and I made the deal to do that movie where we gave money back to make sure that we had a theatrical release.” And when the film, later titled Wolfs, was announced to make its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, everything seemed to have fallen into place along those lines.

Plans, however, can change fast in Hollywood. Earlier this month, Apple announced that Wolfs’ wide theatrical release had been canceled, with plans instead to put it out on a handful of big screens for just a week before streaming it on Apple TV+ starting September 27. Across the Atlantic, plans for theater runs were scrapped entirely. This wasn’t for lack of faith in the movie, exactly, as the studio confirmed plans to make a sequel in the same breath.

Speaking with Vanity Fair in the aftermath of the pivot, Watts says in no uncertain terms that he made this movie for the big screen—and that’s evident in the final product. Following two fixers (Clooney and Pitt) inadvertently hired for the same job—cleaning up the fallout of a hookup between an ambitious DA (Amy Ryan) and a younger man (Austin Abrams) gone terribly wrong—Wolfs is a sharp, well-executed thriller from the director, who spent the last decade revitalizing the Spider-Man series for the MCU. Watts applies his blockbuster bona fides to a leaner, meaner story taking place over one night in snowy New York, captured in long takes and glistening with movie-star magic.

“One thing that you learn from making a Spider-Man movie is about all the different kinds of harnesses an actor has to wear in every direction,” Watts says with a laugh.

Watts is careful with his words as to his own feelings around the current release situation, but confirms he found out about the change only days before the rest of the world did. He also makes clear where his priorities are. “What it really takes is for the people that pay for the movies to back theatrical distribution,” he says. “It’s not up to the filmmakers. Filmmakers have been making great movies.”

Vanity Fair: This movie reminded me of your pre-superhero days—your 2015 movie Cop Car especially, as it’s very tight and there’s a feeling of rigorous simplicity to it.

Jon Watts: That was our thing. We had this sort of mentality of always trying to do things as simply as possible, trying to not cut unless you have to cut, reflecting the worldview of these kinds of guys. How do we do this? How do we get rid of the body in the simplest way possible? That became an aesthetic approach as well. But yeah, to my friends, I call this my next movie after Cop Car.

Were you eager to get back to that kind of filmmaking?

Yeah, absolutely. I had no idea that Spider-Man was going to become three movies when I first got into it. This was a way for me to get back to my vision and my style, and I was really just getting started when I did Cop Car. I was starting to make movies and then Marvel happened. And I take total creative ownership over those movies, but it’s always going to be Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s creation, so this was my chance to do my thing, which feels good. It’s also about two boys getting into trouble. [Laughs]

George and Brad have a history together onscreen. How did you want to pay homage to that? How did you want to reference that?

Well, I think it’s interesting because they’re only in three movies together. They’re in one scene together for Burn After Reading. But I think in people’s imagination, they have a longer, richer history than they actually do. So to me that was just so ripe. It felt so much easier to be writing in the voice of Brad Pitt and in the voice of George Clooney because I know that voice. I’ve seen every movie that they’ve been in. You’re always a little nervous when you give someone a script that you’ve written for them in their voice. And it was great because they were like, “Yep, these are things we can say.” And they worked the rhythms out on their own. They would always sort of be off to the side running lines and developing that rhythm and that pattern.

But you get to draw on everything that they’ve ever done, and it’s like a shorthand in a movie. You don’t have to explain who they are or where they came from or where they’re going, or even who are those people that they’re talking about, all these offscreen stories that they’re telling. They bring along their entire cinematic lineage with them.

Do you have favorite roles of theirs?

I love George in The American and Michael Clayton. And I like when he is goofy too. Them being able to do both is also something that’s so rare. To be able to be so deadly serious and then also be very funny and very silly is impressive. I like Brad in Killing Them Softly. I’ve seen Fight Club so many times. There’s a gesture. Brad has all these physicalities that I tried to bring out or write lines where I knew he would be able to do that thing. I love him in Se7en. I like him playing naive. It’s hard to not geek out when you’re with them on set. It was actually a very fun set because, in between takes, they’d hang out. Even when it was freezing cold in New York on the street, they’d just hang out and they’d tell stories. I was always like, “Hey, tell me a David Fincher story. Tell me a [Steven] Soderbergh story.”

What’s interesting about Wolfs is they’re great in the movie, but you really let Amy Ryan run away with the opening, and once Austin Abrams really enters the picture as a young guy caught up in something that may be much bigger than he can handle, it’s hard to take your eyes off of him.

I mean, I love Amy Ryan. I think she’s a national treasure. And again, that ability to ride the line between complete emotional dedication and humor—for her to just do that in this basically silent opening and command the screen and immediately place you in this space and into this situation, it’s simplifying, right? It’s clearing the space to just let an actor perform and just let her have the space.

And then for Austin, I’ve known him for a while. I just knew he was great. He’s never really had that chance to really show off. So I wanted this to be his chance. It’s such a tough role, to put a young kid up against these two—he has to be able to hold his own. So I wrote it with that in mind, with these opportunities for him to really just go for it. That’s why that monologue is just all one take. There was never a question in my mind that that had to all be one shot because that’s a pretty intense ask of a young actor to do a two-page monologue in front of Brad Pitt and George Clooney. He basically became that character when he was around them, this kind of puppy-dog lost kid. He’d ask them questions. I don’t know if they knew he was putting it on or if they really thought he was like that. [Laughs]

I’d like to ask you a little bit about the release of the film. When Wolfs was first announced in the trades back in 2021, a theatrical release was mentioned as a core part of that. So when you found out about Apple’s pivot to streaming, were you surprised? Disappointed?

When we initially made the deal, when I was pitching it to everyone, that was before the last Spider-Man came out. So that was when the entire existential future of theatrical movie going was still up in the air. From that point on, the theatrical experience has really made an impression on me, of how valuable this thing is and how important it is. I always thought of this as a theatrical movie. We made it to be seen in theaters, and I think that’s the best way to see it. It’s funny. It’s filled with twists and turns. I tried to do some interesting things visually and I still think that the best way to see it is in theaters.

So when did you find out?

I found out a few days before that press release.

Wow. In an interview with George from last year, he said that a company taking a movie like this straight to streaming is a “mistake.” Obviously, he didn’t know at the time that would be the release plan for Wolfs, but do you agree with that?

Oh, he said that?

He said it a year ago, yeah.

Oh, a year ago. I mean, I don’t know. It is definitely an evolving marketplace. But I think any of that lingering question about, “Do people go to the movies?”—that’s been answered. Movies have been doing great this summer. I like going to the movies. That’s always my number one destination. I don’t wait for it to come out on streaming.

Have you talked to Brad and George about it at all?

No. I get to see them in Venice and we’ll get to talk then. [Laughs]

George also mentioned in that interview, even back then, that you guys were talking about a sequel. So clearly that has been in the works.

Apple’s been talking to me about a sequel since I turned in my cut in December. That’s always been an ongoing discussion. I absolutely did not write the movie with a sequel in mind. But it was very fun to make, so I don’t know, I think you let the audience decide if they want to see more.

As somebody who’s worked in indies, who’s worked in the MCU, and has now made a standalone studio movie, how do you see the state of theatrical versus streaming, especially given the pivot with this movie? Does it concern you at all?

You want the movie to be seen, and if you maximize the way that people are able to actually see a movie, I think that is good—I watched so many movies that really influenced me on VHS because I grew up in a small town in Colorado, so we just didn’t have those movies in the theaters. But for me, the theatrical experience is still the number one. It’s up to the people that are able to make those decisions to put them in theaters for people to see, and just have the confidence that people will go see them. People want to go to the movies. People love the movies.

If you had known then what you know now about the way this movie will be released, would you have gone in another direction, given that you were talking to a lot of studios?

[Laughs] I try to not think about hypothetical situations like that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.